rain shadow areas are not without some positive aspects. In the American West,
the orographically induced snow packs of the winter contain significant water.
During the warm season these snow packs melt and water is concentrated into
streams. These streams are dammed and otherwise utilized to supply water for
urban and agricultural purposes in the numerous rain shadows.
Another positive benefit is the sunnier climates of rain shadow areas as com-
pared to their windward counterparts. For instance, the city Bend is some 35 km
(22 mi) alee of the crest of the Oregon Cascade range. Lowland Bend is consider-
ably sunnier than any location west to the Pacific coast. This sunny climate has led
to Bend’s emergence as a recreation and retirement destination. Bend averages
over 250 days a year of sunny and mostly sunny weather while some of the wind-
ward slopes of the Cascades have over 300 cloudy days per year. Bend is proximal
to the forests and ski slopes of the Cascades so its residents use the rain shadow to
advantage.
Region
A region is a defined territory that indicates some common characteristic or fea-
ture, or that is structured or organized in such a way that it is distinguishable from
the surrounding territory. Any territory that is enclosed by a formal boundary is a
region, so allnation-statesand their administrative subdivisions are considered
to be regions, but these by no means are the only examples. The concept of divid-
ing theEarthinto constituent components called regions is the basis of the branch
of geography known as regional geography. This way of approaching the study of
Earth dates at least to the ancient Greek geographer and historian Herodotus (died
circa 425 B.C.), and geographers have widely utilized the concept of the region
ever since. The “region” has proven to be such an enduring and useful device for
the study of geography precisely because Earth is marked by a high degree of
variation, and identifying zones of commonality, i.e., “regions” allows the geogra-
pher to organize and categorize this variation. Nearly every subfield of geography
utilizes the concept of the region. It is not the case that all regions are clearly and
uniformly defined, or understood, in the same way by everyone who uses them.
Several examples would include the Midwest and Deep South in the United States,
the Outback in Australia, and even international regional designations like the
Middle East. Yet even these somewhat imprecise regions continue to be used as
a means of mentally organizing and viewing the world across a wide spectrum of
scales. Regions may also be used in a generalized conceptual sense and do not
require a stark, exact demarcation. The regionalized concept ofcore and
Region 279